[09/28/07 - 11:26 AM]Quick Take for Thursday, September 27, 2007 (Based on Live + Same Day Fast Affiliate Ratings)ABC spins the numbers for Thursday, September 27

[via press release from ABC]

Quick Take for Thursday, September 27, 2007 (Based on Live + Same Day Fast Affiliate Ratings)

ABC Dominates the Opening Thursday in Adults 18-34 and Key Women

With its Best Viewer and Young Adult Numbers Since February, "Ugly Betty"
Opens its Second Season a Strong No. 1 in its Time Slot Among Adults 18-34

In its Fourth Season Premiere, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" Opens as Thursday's
No. 1 TV Show in Adults 18-49 and as TV's Top-Rated Premiere So Far This Season

Up Against Veteran Dramas in the 10 O'clock Hour, the Series Debut of ABC's
"Big Shots" Dominates in Adults 18-34, Leading its Nearest Competitor by 34%

Thursday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)

ABC dominated the opening Thursday of the season among Adults 18-34 (5.8/16) and across all key women demographics: W18-34 (8.7/22), W18-49 (8.2/20) and W25-54 (8.7/19). The Net finished in a near-tie for first place with CBS in Adults 18-49, pacing within one-tenth of a rating point and tied in audience share (5.7/15 vs. 5.8/15).

"Ugly Betty" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

From 8:00-9:00 p.m. ABC's second season premiere of "Ugly Betty" opened with a convincing time period win among Adults 18-34 (3.8/12), beating NBC's season opener of "My Name is Earl" by 9% (3.5/11) and CBS' "Survivor: China" by 27% (3.0/9). "Ugly Betty" earned second in the hour to CBS' "Survivor" in Total Viewers (11.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.8/11).

� In Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, "Ugly Betty" marked its best performance since February � since 2/15/07.

"Grey's Anatomy" (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

Thursday's No. 1 TV program in Adults 18-49 and the highest-rated show to premiere this season, ABC's season opener of "Grey's Anatomy" beat second-place CBS' "C.S.I." by 9% in the key sales demo (8.7/21 vs. 8.0/19). "Grey's" advantage over "C.S.I." in Adults 18-34 stood at substantial 43% (9.0/23 vs. 6.3/16). "Grey's" drew an average audience of 20.5 million viewers, qualifying as the second-most-watched show for the evening, after "C.S.I."

� "Grey's Anatomy" garnered it highest ratings since March in Adults 18-34 (9.0/23) and Women 18-34 (13.4/30) � since 3/22/07.

"Big Shots" (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Up against veteran dramas on NBC ("ER") and CBS ("Without a Trace"), the series debut of "Big Shots" won the 10 o'clock hour in Adults 18-34, holding a 34% advantage over its nearest competition (4.7/14 vs. 3.5/10 � CBS). "Big Shots" also delivered the No. 1 position in the time period with both Men 18-34 (2.6/9) and Women 18-34 (6.9/18). The new ABC series also challenged CBS' "Without a Trace" for the lead among Adults 18-49 (4.7/13 vs. 4.8/13), now standing as the third-highest-rated series debut this season � behind only NBC's "Bionic Woman" and ABC's "Private Practice," respectively.

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year to year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating trends based on the Live + Same Day data stream may be somewhat distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has more than doubled from 8.54% during premiere week 2006 up to 19.43% currently. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. Therefore, the only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.